Maize (Zea mays L.) can play an important role in the crop diversification in Punjab. It is used in poultry and animal feed and for the manufacturing of starch, glucose and corn flakes. It is also used as a human food during winter season. Traditionally maize was grown as kharif crop and now sowing during rabi season has also been started in some districts with the development of new varieties and hybrids. Maize can be grown successfully during spring season. The present study was undertaken to assess the area under different maize hybrids grown in spring season, its productivity and gross returns of the farmers in the Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts of Punjab. The results revealed that majority of farmers prefer to sow seeds of two hybrids namely 31Y45 and DKC 9108 with an average yield around 96q/ha. These hybrids on an average resulted in a gross return around Rs 81,600/ha. Among the blocks studied, the maximum area was in the Kapurthala block. The highest grain yield obtained was in Kartarpur block but the selling rate and gross returns were maximum in Lohian block. Among the different categories of the farmers according to their land holdings, the maximum area was planted by farmers of category having land more than 20 ha. and they also got the maximum gross returns.

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional-cum-Research (ICR) Farm of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat to assess the effect of integrated nutrient management on available nutrient status of soil under rice-niger sequence. It showed that application of 50 per cent of recommended NPK+50 per cent N FYM and 75 per cent of recommended NPK+25 per cent N FYM were superior treatments and recorded higher available nitrogen and phosphorus for both the layers of soil after harvest of rice and niger. However, the bio-fertilizer based INM package resulted the highest increase in available potassium followed by 75 per cent NPK plus 25 per cent N FYM and 50 per cent NPK with 50 per cent N FYM. A marked build up of available sulphur content of soil was recorded by applying 50 per cent NPK with 50 per cent N FYM, while the integrated nutrient management had a little positive influence on exchangeable Ca and Mg contents of the soil.

The field experiment was conducted at Students’ Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during rabi 2013–14 to study the bio-efficacy of two new brand formulations-Penda 30 EC and Markpendi 30 EC for control of Phalaris minor in wheat. New brand formulations of pendimethalin (Penda 30 EC and Markpendi 30 EC) @ 2.5 l/ha were tested against recommended brand formulation (Stomp 30 EC) @ 2.5 l/ha and unsprayed check in randomized block design in three replications. The tested new brand formulations of pendimethalin (Markpendi 30 EC and Penda 30 EC) were at par to earlier recommended brand (Stomp 30 EC) with respect to weed population, dry matter accumulation and wheat grain yield.

Harar (Terminalia chebula Retz.) has been given the status of mother and king of medicines in Ayurveda. Its fruit has astringent, purgative, antibacterial, antifungal and laxative activity. Shiwalik hills of Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts in Haryana upto an altitude of about 1200m above mean sea level boast of best Harar in the country in terms of quality. The country\\\’s richest germplasm exists here. It has become endangered in Haryana and adjoining Himachal as its regeneration is not taking place. Out of an estimated number of about 2000 Harar trees existing in Haryana, about 3/4th are on farmers’ fields and only about 1/4th trees exist in forests. About 90 per cent of these trees exist in and around Raj Tikri, Hathiya and Thandog village of Panchkula district and adjoining Sirmour district in Himachal. Trees existing on farmers’ land are commercially utilized by the farmers. However, the trees existing in forest are inaccessible due to thick undergrowth of Lantana camera growth which makes human movement difficult. This fruit is neither collected by the Forest Department nor is it auctioned. While in forest, it is thick growth of Lantana camera which does not allow young seedlings to come up, outside forest. Premature fruit drop as a result of attack of a beetle borer insect and leaf rust takes its toll by reducing the size of fruits and causing economic losses to the farmers.

Paucity of information on management practices to enhance seed germination, seeding emergence and development for an economically important crop of central India led to the conductance of field experiment in split – plot design, on deep Vertisols. Experiment aimed at determining the influence of planting date (main plot), cultivators (sub – plot) and phosphorus levels (sub-sub plot) on growth and development of soybean. Results indicated that early planting of soybean resulted in higher germination in all the cultivars, whereas under late planting condition though the period required for emergence was less but the germination was reduced by 61.6 per cent. Significantly higher seed yield and B:C ratio was recorded in early planting under all the varieties and levels of phosphorus. The interaction effect of planting date x variety x phosphorus level was highly significant, as indicated by rooting pattern and yield attributing characters.

The present experiment was carried out in a village of district Uttarkashi to assess the effect of supplementary inorganic mineral mixture on the growth performance of male goats. Fifteen non-descript local male goat (7–8 months, 9.38±0.93 kg body weight) were randomly distributed in three groups viz. T1 (control), T2 and T3 consisting of five goats each. All fifteen goats were treated with anthelmintics before the start of study and repeated at two months interval. All goats were provided ad lib basal diet. A quantity of 10 and 15 g mineral mixture was supplemented/goat/day for 120 d in T2 and T3, respectively. Body weight of each goat was measured fortnightly. Higher body weight (kg) and average daily wt. gain (g) were recorded in T3 (4.9 kg and 41.0±1.4 g) followed by T2 (4.8 kg and 39.7±1.4 g) and T1 (4.3 kg and 35.5±1.5 g). The higher daily wt. gain was observed during the period between 30 to 75 days in T3 (45.3 g/d) followed by T2 (42.4g/d). The higher body weight gain in T3 and T2 might be due to supplementing effect of mineral mixture. The results of present study indicated superior daily gains in male goat with supplementation of 15 g mineral mixture/goat/day with basal diet.

A field experiment was conducted for three consecutive Kharif seasons on silty clay loam soil at the research farm of CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur to find the effect of surface drainage of rain water on the performance of black gram cultivars. Twelve treatment combinations consisting of four drainage conditions (surface drainage not provided, surface drainage through providing drain after three lines of crop, surface drainage through providing drain all around the plot, surface drainage through furrows in ridge and furrow system with crop planted on ridges) and three black gram cultivars (Palampur-3, UG-218 and PDU-1) were replicated thrice in a split plot design with varieties in main plots and drainage conditions in sub plots. Surface drainage of water significantly increased black gram yield, gross and net returns in comparison to no surface drainage of water. Planting on ridge and drainage of water through furrow resulted in significantly higher black gram yield (30.4%), gross (30.5%) and net (33.2%) returns than no surface drainage of water. Grain yield (16.5%), gross returns (16.5%), net returns (59.6%) and B:C ratio (63.2%) were higher in variety Palampur-93 than in variety UG – 218.

Diet composition plays an important role in nutritional status of an individual. An ample and diverse supply of calories, protein, vitamin and minerals is necessary for good nutrition. Balanced diet must include food items from the various food groups in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of an individual and for maintenance of good health throughout the life. The present study focuses on the health and well-being of farm women from four villages of district Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. The mean daily intake of nutrients was calculated by using the Food Composition Tables and was compared with the Recommended Dietary Allowances for adult women as recommended by Indian Council of Medical Research. The present study revealed that diet consumed by the farmwomen of the area was sufficient only in meeting the energy requirements whereas all other nutrients were deficient in their diet. A majority of the farm women suffer from iron-deficiency anemia.

The rivers Brahmaputra and Barak along with their numerous tributaries and rivulets has been traditional source of fishing for the people of the state Assam from the time immemorial. Diverse range of traditional and indigenous fishing gears are used to harvest the fishery resources from these water bodies. Many of the traditional fishing gears are exclusively made of bamboos which are still in use today in one form or another contributing to the total fish production and the economy of the local community. Variation of fish harvesting systems in the region can be attributed due to the topography, diverse terrain, fish habitat, fish behaviour, fish diversity, fisher community and availability of construction materials, cost and skill. Bamboo-made fishing gears were found to be effective for specific kind of fishes and are widely used throughout the season due to its ease of operation, low cost and availability of raw material and easy construction.

A study was conducted with 150 randomly selected farmers in Barmer Panchayat Samiti area of Barmer district. The study revealed that the majority of the farmers (84%) were having moderate level of knowledge and favourable attitude about advantages of vermicompost technology. The major constraints noticed were the non availability of worms in nearby market, lack of knowledge about preparation of vermicompost and high temperature during summer season. Removing these constraints need organized efforts from all the stakeholder\\\’s namely farmers, government (local administration and research institution) and non government organizations.

The present study was conducted in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Findings showed that majority of the self help group leaders were under high category of grading the products. It was observed that majority of self help group leaders possess moderately favorable attitude in marketing their products.

The present study was conducted in two blocks of district Kapurthala by selecting 5 villages from each block and 15 farming families from each village. Thus, a total of 150 farming families were interviewed with specific objective to know the milk consumption pattern among farm women as well as their health status. It was observed that 45.3 per cent farming families were not keeping any dairy animals and therefore the milk availability was only 0.456 kg/d/family in comparison to those having 1 to 5 animals (1.2 kg/d) and more than 5 animals (1.1kg/d). Thus, the data regarding milk consumption by the farm women followed the same trend as per the availability of the milk in a family. Since, there was no intake of milk or milk products as per recommendations by the farm women in the villages in spite of the fact that they are fully engaged in the farm work which requires more energy. It was also noticed that in the villages, the educational qualification of the farm women was also less which need to be improved in order to improve the living standard of the farming community. The study showed that about 40 per cent of the farm women (having no dairy animal) and 46 per cent (having 1–5 dairy animals) were suffering from lower backache which was a very disturbing phenomenon. Moreover, these women do not know the cause of such type of problems due to ignorance about proper feeding habits as well as occurrence of nutritional diseases.

In India, 85 per cent total cropping systems are cereal-cereal e.g. rice-wheat (10.5 M ha.), rice-rice (6.0 M ha.), pearl millet – wheat (2.3 M ha), sorghum – wheat (2.3 M ha.), maize – wheat (1.9 M ha.) etc. These systems are very exhaustive in nature and removal of nutrients is much more than the replenishment and as result the productivity of different cropping systems is at plateau. In the Indo- Gangetic Plains which is considered as a food bowl of the country is also being affected on account of over exploitation of the natural resources. Since rice-wheat is the predominant cropping system and excessive wet tillage in rice cultivation has caused soil degradation problem and the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the soil are being affected which need to be rejuvenated. Therefore, it has become of utmost importance to conserve the natural resources by following organic farming based farming system approach. The water conservation is an integral component of this approach and a function of soil property largely determine the infiltration rate and soil depth partially control the amount of water stored in the soil. For higher water intake, soil surface has to be covered by mulching material or inter cropping so that surface sealing and crusting do not occur. Shallow tillage increases the soil surface roughness that helps in cutting runoff. Soil cover and addition of organic matter increases the soil moisture storage and ultimately soil health. There is an urgent need to do follow the natural farming or zero budget farming by making use of the resources available at the farm itself. The use of bio-fertilizers, bio-dynamics formulations, recycling of crop residue, crop rotation, application of green manuring, farm yard manure, extracts of herbs, following bhumi sanskar, beej sanskar, use of bio agents not only would reduce the cost of production but simultaneously make the ecosystem more vibrant by making a choice of the various plantation crops based farming system. Likewise vegetable, poultry, mushroom/rabitary/piggrey/fishery based farming systems to make the production system productive, profitable and sustainable over a longer period of time.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra conducted front line demonstrations on summer moong variety SML 668 at farmers’ fields in district Jalandhar during years 2008 to 2013. The productivity and economic returns of summer moong in demonstrated plots were calculated and compared with the corresponding farmers’ practices (local check). The data obtained was pooled for six years. It was observed that on an average 15.9 per cent higher grain yield was recorded in demonstration plots than the farmers’ practices. The extension gap, technology gap and technology index were 1.3q/ha, 0.76q/ha and 6.7 per cent, respectively. An additional investments of Rs. 1,379/ha coupled with scientific monitoring of demonstrations and non-monetary factors resulted in additional return of Rs. 5,362/ha over the farmer\\\’s practice. Fluctuating minimum selling price of summer moong during different years influenced the economic returns per unit area.

A study was conducted in Sendamangalam and Rasipuram blocks of Namakkal district to understand the problems perceived by the small and marginal farmers in rearing dairy cows during summer months. Heat stress is of greatest concern in high producing dairy cows in a dry belt like Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. A random sample of 140 farmers was selected from two selected blocks of Namakkal district. Depressed milk production, reduced feed intake, increased water intake, bacterial and viral diseases outbreak and lack of knowledge on housing facilities were the problems perceived as most serious by the farmers. Around 30 per cent reduction in energy utilization in dairy animals due to heat stress was noticed. Thus these problems pertaining to dairy farm operations intend the farmers to follow certain implications or strategies to reduce the economic loss occurring during summer.

The organic farming in hilly areas of Uttarakhand is default by nature as chemical fertilizer and use of fungicide, insecticide and herbicide is negligible. In hilly regions of district Pithoragarh rice wheat is an important cropping sequence. The entire scented rice in the district is grown organically and the yield of local scented rice varieties is very low. The present study was conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra Pithoragarh to compare the farmers’ practice (T-1) with two treatments viz; T-2: 20 t FYM to Rice and Wheat along with phosphorus solublising bacteria (PSB) and T-3: 20 t FYM to Rice and Wheat along with PSB, Azatobacter and Azospirillum. The experiment was conducted at farmers’ field in two villages viz; Bagrihat and Egyardevi. In village Bagrihat during 2007 treatment T-3 resulted in 13.7 and 11.7 per cent increase in yield of rice and wheat over farmers’ practice respectively. While in village Egyardevi treatment T-3 resulted in higher yield of rice and wheat during both the years of study. Net return for treatment T-3 was higher as compared to treatment T-1 and T-2. Thus application of well decomposed F.Y.M enriched with Azotobacter, Azospirillum and PSB resulted in higher yield of scented rice and wheat cropping sequence over traditional farmers’ practice.

Temperature fluctuations and lower night temperature during April and May not only pose great threat to paddy nurseries but also results in slow growth of seedlings, which delays rice transplanting in temperate Kashmir valley. The farmers of mid altitude alleviations grow traditional varieties like K-332 and Kohsar, which have low yield potential. Jhelum, a high yielding rice cultivar famous for yield potential and quality in the planes of valley is now occupying maximum area under mid altitude temperate conditions. The adaption of Modified Protected nursery, to save nursery from climatic vagaries and to simultaneously provide robust and healthy seedlings in a short period, ensures early transplanting and boost the yield potential of the variety in mid altitudes. In view of this-on-farm trials on modified protected nursery (Improved practice) verses open nursery (Farmers’ practice) were conducted at Farmers’ field. In modified protected nursery the medium consisted of a 20–25 cm layer of soil, sand, organic manure and ash mixed in the ratio of 2:2:1:1, which was laid on polythene sheet. Nursery was kept covered with polythene during cloudy/rainy days and also during night hours particularly for initial 10–15 days after sowing. Seedlings under protected nursery technique were healthy and robust and ready for transplanting 8–10 days earlier compared to farmers’ practice. Yield attributes and grain yield improved appreciably in improved practice over farmers’ practice. Panicles/m2(387), grains/panicle (85) and 1000 gain weight (22.9g) were higher in protected practice as compared to farmers’ practice. Grain yield was more (61.7q/ha) in the improved practice. An increase in the grain yield to the tune of 12 per cent with wet profit (Rs.61,240/ha) and B:C ratio (2.4:1) was recorded in the improved practice of modified protected nursery as against net returns of Rs. 53,580/ha and B: C ratio (2.1:1) in farmers’ practice.

Twenty groundwater samples were collected from Phagwara block of Kapurthala district of Punjab during the pre-monsoon season. These water samples were tested for major cations and anions which are important from irrigation point of view. To determine the suitability of groundwater of Phagwara for irrigation purpose, the parameters like electrical conductivity (EC) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC) were calculated on the basis of chemical data. Based on EC and RSC values together, it was found that 40 per cent water samples were fit, 40 per cent were marginal and 20 per cent were unfit for irrigation purpose. A large proportion of samples falling in marginal and unfit category indicate the need of water testing for sustainable crop production without deteriorating the soil health. Irrigation water having problem of sodicity should be used along with application of inorganic (gypsum) or organic (FYM) amendments.

The present study was designed to estimate zooplankton abundance qualitatively and quantitatively in different Fish-Livestock Integrated Farming Systems (FLIFS) over the Non Integrated Fish-Livestock Farming System (NIFLFS) in Terai region of West Bengal. Three treatments in triplicates for four consecutive years (2008–2011) were studied in Belacoba village of Jalpaiguri district involving nine pond of 0.01 hectare (ha) namely, NIFLFS (Control): The aquaculture was not integrated with the animal waste, FLIFS -I: Integration of cattle manure with aquaculture and FLIFS -II: FLIFS-I+ ducks grazing on the ponds. Zooplankton samples were collected bimonthly from the treated ponds for the analysis (qualitatively and quantitatively). Ponds under FLIFS-II and FLIFS-I were found to contain significantly higher concentration of zooplanktons (131±12 no l?1 and 128±11 no l?1, respectively) than NIFLFS (27 ± 2 no l?1). The identified zooplanktons were under 4 orders namely copepoda, rotifera, cladocera, and Diaptomus. Dominant groups of the zooplankton available in all the samples were observed to be Copepoda and Cladocera represented by Cyclops sp.and Daphnia sp., respectively. Total seven and six species were identified in the FLIFS-II and FLIFS-I, respectively in comparison to the four species in NIFLFS. In the present study the Daphnia was also significantly increased by 32.8% and 31.8% in FLIFS-I and FLIFS-II, respectively, where frequently manure was applied. Again Bosmina sp. was observed to be contributing in the FLIFS-II where ducks are grazing and the duck droppings are introduced in the ponds. Hence, it was concluded that utilization of cow dung and duck manure for aquaculture can successfully increase the availability and diversity of the natural food (zooplankton) to support the growing fishes under the integrated fish farming systems followed in the terai region of West Bengal.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala is playing an important role in preserving the art of Phulakri making and its popularity by developing novelty items through value addition. In the present study, an attempt was made to study the socio-economic profile and discuss the empowerment indicators of sixty women artisans who acquired training from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala. The socio-economic profile of these women revealed that 53.3 per cent of them were educated up to matriculation and above whereas 75.0 per cent were above 35 years of age. The results revealed that 73.3 per cent women artisans had formed self help groups (SHG) while 26.6 per cent worked individually. It was also noticed that women who formed SHGs reaped the benefits of various developmental schemes initiated by Government of India because most of the schemes prefer a group or institution to extend the benefits of a particular scheme.